


the tanaka who cried (were)wolf

by akutagi



Series: The Haikyuu Storybook Collection [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fluffy Ending, Help, M/M, Self-Doubt, Sheep, Sheep Hearder! Tanaka, Were-Creatures, Werewolf! Ennoshita, Werewolves, he and is sister work together its cool ig
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25406158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akutagi/pseuds/akutagi
Summary: Once when it was getting darker out, the sun setting, making the air chill and somber, Tanaka said a burning question he’d had from the start. Digging his boot’s heel into the dirt, he spoke his mind. “Enno?” This was a nickname he’d coined for the other once their meetings got into the double digits.The other hummed in response, giving him full clearance to continue on.“When can I see your face? Or show you to my family?” He didn’t elaborate on why, mostly because he himself didn’t know the real reasons.Is it because everyone looks at me crazy whenever I mention my faceless forest friend? Or that I want to know what you look like? Get you a gift that suits your style? Know you more? Know you better?“You really wanna know why I haven't shown it before?” He did. “...I don’t think you’d like the whole me.”---Tanaka sees a mysterious figure one day while caring for his family's sheep in the forest. Once he gets closer, does he begin to talk to the other and find that he enjoys chatting with them. However, he turns for a moment when his sister calls him. Then the figure is gone, only a wolf in the forest running away. That last part is unrelated. Obviously.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Series: The Haikyuu Storybook Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830334
Kudos: 27





	the tanaka who cried (were)wolf

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to the next part of the series !!
> 
> i really wanted to post this soon since im going to be gone the rest of the week and wont a chance + as a part thank you for haikyuu ending yesterday. this series is so incredibly important to me and im thankful for getting into it :)) so thank you furudate for these characters and incredible story <3
> 
> before reading i want to say that at the moment, YES, you can read them at any order you want, but later on it might be confusing so keep that in mind ;)
> 
> (also sorry i wrote this while only having two hours of sleep under my belt so i might come back later and do a second round of editingggg)
> 
> anyways heres the next part !

The rays downpoured on Tanaka heavily, much like most days out in the backyard. Today, however, was especially warm which wasn’t an ideal environment for his day’s work.

The sheeps usually despised this type of weather, making them more irritable as a result. So instead of harvesting some wool like he’d originally intended, he tweaked his schedule and decided today would just be a health study. Most were fine, one or two older sheeps showing their age and beginning weared feet, resting most of the day. 

After checking the newest addition, a baby birthed just a few weeks prior and concluding they were more than alright, he used the end of his cotton shirt to send the pilling water off of his face. Once doing so did he realize that in the nearby woods stood a figure he’d never seen before.  _ How long have they been there?  _ he’d wondered.

Locking the gate shut, he marched on over, boots sinking deep into the grass’ strands. Once he got closer, did the shape take a step, only tempting Tanaka to go farther. It seemed like he wanted to lure the other, while also pushing the herder away as well. And Tanaka wasn’t one for running away from curiosity.

Eventually, he stopped the arm of a person, presumably a male, behind a large oak tree. He planted himself against the other side, both backs glued onto the bark but away from the other. 

Tanaka spoke first, as he usually did. “Hey there.”

The stranger called back, voice seeming to echo in the forest and his own ears. “Hello.”

“So…” he started, tapping his fingers against the rough skin of the tree. “I know just about everyone in this town, but I didn’t seem to recognize you. What’s up with that?” It wasn’t like Tanaka’s town was small, far from, but with his personality, everyone knew  _ of  _ him, so, in turn he himself knew most people, and who to avoid and who to pester. He wondered where this person would land on the spectrum of possibilities.

“That’s simple enough. I don’t live in your town, though it does seem nice.” He could sense the other tense against the wood, though the tree itself didn’t make that known. Tanaka just knew people and how they were, no matter if they were close since childhood or complete strangers. 

“Oh….” He tried to search for something else to say. Then it dawned on him, something so simple but important. “What’s your name? I-If you don’t mind.”

“You can call me Ennoshita.” He seemed finicky with the title, like it was just as new to him as it was to Tanaka.

“Ennoshita. I think it suits you.” He replied, smiling to himself for reasons he didn’t quite know.

“You don’t even know what I look like, so who are you to say it suits me?” Tanaka could tell the other was softening up, voice starting to become more relaxed and fluid.

“I have a knack for this sort of thing, people always tell me I’m an  _ excellent  _ name giver  _ and  _ judger.” He crossed his arms and leg, the latter slamming into the tree so quick that an acorn had come loose. 

“Oh really? I find the doubtful, considering you named one of the sheeps in your herd ‘ _ Cloud _ ’ and the other ‘ _ Zack’.”  _ He heard the other scoff at the mention, so he continued to erk the fire he had lit. “I just think I could do a better job naming them, Tanaka.”

Slowly lifting himself from the bark’s grasp, he started to reason as to why the statement was false. “Well, I’ll have you know that those names are great because one’s fluffy like a cloud  _ and- _ “ Stopping in his tracks and words, he realized to things.

  1. He had never given the names of any of his flock.
  2. He had never given out _his_ name as well. 



Being to peer over nature’s obstacle, he could see the other start to panic again, early tension flooding into those shoulders he barely could view. With hesitation, he asked, “... How did you know all those names?” 

The other, this ‘Ennoshita’ character, began to spin around as well, away from Tanaka and towards the dense forest. “You told me?”

“If you’re gonna lie, at least be confident in it.” Tanaka wasn’t afraid, ever. But he was starting to feel less than secure that someone had known more about him than he did the other. 

The other was about to speak again when Tanaka was so close to snatching the other’s sleeve. Reaching for the flowing cream fabric that would hold the culprit, he was about to clutch it and-

“ **_Tanaka!! What’re you doing, idiot!”_ ** His sister cried from the field, hands cupping her face to electrify the volume’s intensity.

Rolling his eyes, he moved from the tree enough to make his voice louder. “I’m talking to someone!”

Her face looked confused or aggravated. Or both. Saeko was a mysterious figure in her own way. 

Looking to where her eyes were pointing, he could see why she’d stare so adamantly. Making lap around as swiftly as possible it was clear that it was only Tanaka in a forest, nothing else there as far as he could witness.

He tried to call out for the other, only to hear it echo back empty and hollow, like a bird crying out for anyone who would listen. After admitting his efforts fruitless, he turned back around and stalked back to an angry sister at the post. 

Smacking him on the arm, she gave another bland lecture on the proper way to shut the gate closed, no room for error, or escapes from the group of animals. 

Only when he gave one last turn of the head did he see a beast on four legs look back at him, the same spot the other was mere minutes ago. Their fur was regal and dark, but not intimidating. The wolf looked at Tanaka with interest, and Tanaka mirrored that same outlook in response. 

After hearing one of the sheep cry out for attention did he break the contact, only to see the animal gone the second after. 

Tanaka promised to come out next time with extra water, blaming the whole occurrence on lack of hydration and a playful imagination.

###

Maybe Tanaka’s thoughts were a bit  _ too  _ rambunctious. He’d gotten lectured on that observation many times before from townsfolk, often upset from the jokes he liked to play from time to time.

But most of the lies or stories were built around seeds of truths, even if they grew to become much bigger than the source ever was. Because the best conceived lies were made from truths, were they?

For example, one time he’d told the town’s kids that if they didn’t hug their mother’s once a day a boy with deep hair and a patch of bright would snatch them and lead them away from home. They were obviously frightened, and later he would get scolded and forced to apologize by his sister, but it was real. Or the person was real, he’d seen a boy dressed in green flying in the sky. The only thing Tanaka did was fill in the missing pieces of the story he’d been outlined.

Regardless, no one took the herder seriously any longer. Disregarding each new thing that flung off his tongue as pure and over-saturated fiction. Tanaka liked being heard by others, but he’d never been taken seriously since birth, always being a comedian. Constantly failing no matter what he did, so he embraced the struggle and molded it into a persona.

Tanaka liked to be heard, but he loved being heard out. There was a difference. To him at least.

So when Tanaka was talking about a boy in the woods who he’d talk to from behind a tree, never seeing his face or defining features, no one heard him out. They heard his words but dismissed him.

No matter how hard he tried, no one would take the time to listen to whatever he had to say. Except for the mysterious Ennoshita, who Tanaka soon figured out lived in the woods. 

They’d talk about a range of things and Tanaka didn’t care for one topic, just the situation of having a mutual dialogue that he loved to be apart in. He had a strange incline the other felt similarly. Or hoped so at the very least. 

Once when it was getting darker out, the sun setting, making the air chill and somber, Tanaka said a burning question he’d had from the start. Digging his boot’s heel into the dirt, he spoke his mind. “Enno?” This was a nickname he’d coined for the other once their meetings got into the double digits.

The other hummed in response, giving him full clearance to continue on. 

“When can I see your face? Or show you to my family?” He didn’t elaborate on why, mostly because he himself didn’t know the real reasons.  _ Is it because everyone looks at me crazy whenever I mention my faceless forest friend? Or that I want to know what you look like? Get you a gift that suits your style? Know you more? Know you better? _

“You really wanna know why I haven't shown it before?” He did. “...I don’t think you’d like the whole me.” Tanaka didn’t understand, so the other trekked on. “ _ This  _ is fine because you can fill in the gaps, but when you  _ really _ know someone, that’s when it becomes a leap of faith. I just don’t know if we’d make it as friends after I take that final step.”

Tanaka hated this part of his friend, when he’d get so entangled in his brain’s weaved story that he couldn’t see what was real. Then again, Tanaka wasn’t much better, was he?

“Enno, you know I won’t judge you.” He stared at the birds flying overhead, wondering if birds had the same dilemmas people did.

There was a pause, and Tanaka prepared himself for what Ennoshita would inevitably say after the conversation reached this point. ‘ _ It’s getting late. We should both head home.’  _

“Next time we meet, I’ll show you.” 

Tanaka was ecstatic, so much so he almost walked over and hugged him, which would defeat the whole purpose behind the promise. Instead, he shot up and beamed a smile only nature would see. “For real?!”

“For real.” He could tell the other was smiling as well, maybe due to excitement or nerves. 

“I’m so excited you have no clue! I’m gonna have to find a nice outfit, since I want my first impression to be a good one!!” He started running back home, stating his goodbye before leaving.

He screamed while going past the sheep’s pen, running into the house soon after clearing it. Saeko told him to pipe down, and Tanaka did, really he did. But instead, he ran upstairs to his room and straight towards the closet, excited for tomorrow. In less than twenty-four hours, he saw his friend’s face for the first time. 

###

Tanaka waited until he was bit senselessly with bites from bugs with sharp spouts. Ennoshita didn’t show up that day. Or the next day. Or the next. 

After a week had passed, Tanaka laid in bed, wondering to himself if he’d accidentally made the boy up, concocted of loneliness and wanting a friend for so long.

###

To Tanaka’s perception, Ennoshita was a figment of the mind in a last effort to have normalcy he’d never received: a friend. On Ennoshita's side of the world, Tanaka was much more than he’d even be. 

The boy was and always had been outgoing, never stopping for the convenience of others. He was loud and outspoken, while Ennoshita was more reserved. 

Ennoshita wouldn’t consider himself a stalker, but he couldn’t help watching the other’s spark from afar. He’d traveled the forest and stumbled upon the backyard of the Tanaka residence, where they had a stable for the sheep in the center of it all. And sure, that was the center, but the center of attention was the boy with the big personality.

With his heightened hearing, he could hear the other talk to the sheep like they would respond in a language Tanaka could understand, ‘ _ bahhs’  _ and ‘ _ bahaaa’  _ both different.

He didn’t know if he’d purposely gotten reckless with hiding, but one day he was being represented as a human and was spotted by the other, who came chasing afterward.

Overhearing was one thing, but talking with someone was a whole other feat for the werewolf. It was tricky at first, but slowly the two formed a bond and that was the most beautifully panicked thing he’d ever experienced. 

When Tanaka asked to see him, for all that he was, it made him worry. So much so, that he never returned back. Or he didn’t in a way that Tanaka would recognize. Because why would he put together that Ennoshita and the wolf were one and the same?

The then wolf backtracked into the forest, morphing back into his human statue when he pumped into something equally as human. Pointing a finger at him, the boy’s face was scrunched up, then shrunk once he came to an epiphany. “Oh! You’re the wolf I’m supposed to stay far away from!”

###

Sitting on a fallen log with someone who’s burning red hood was quieter than the person wearing it was not how Ennoshita pictured his day going. But there they were, both explaining their own issues. 

“I’m still confused as to why you won’t see him.” The ginger asked, kicking at the loose pebbles. “You make it seem like he likes you a ton.”

“That’s the issue. I don’t want to deal with the repercussions of him figuring out he  _ doesn’t  _ like me for who I fully am.” 

The hooded figure stuck his arm out, looking like a living scarecrow. “That’s stupid.” Soon after, a dark bird came flying down, resting on said arm. The boy played with the feathers, meanwhile looking at Ennoshita with grace and serenity. “You have your friend so close to you, yet you’re pushing him away. My friend’s in a tower, and I need to help him out. I wish I had your situation since you can fix it right here and now.”

There was a lull both in conversation and atmosphere, neither making a move to become present, taking a backseat for the time being while the wolfman processed.

The traveler stood up and made sure everything he had was in order. “Well, I’m going to head into the town’s inn for the time being, but I think you should face this head-on. I’m rooting for you!!” He held his knuckles out, presumably for a fist bump. 

Returning the action, Ennoshita asked him one last question before also saluting the other a good farewell and reunion with his friend. “You never told me why you talked to me? Seeing as though people told you to watch out for me.”

Cocking his head to the side, he also scratched his head to emphasize his confusion. “Because you may be part wolf, but you’re still fully you. I’m not here to judge on something you can’t control yourself. And I’m happy we got a chance to talk!”

After that, he exited the forest and entered the town, getting smaller and smaller just as the sun had earlier. With the moon coming out, Ennoshita realized that today was done. Tomorrow, however, had endless possibilities. One where a friend gained the confidence he’d always wanted himself.

###

Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the repetition that got to Tanaka, but whatever the reasoning, it didn’t change the outcome.

He’d wrapped up for the day, only realized how he’d messed up once he looking up from the kitchen’s windowpane and outside. Somehow, the sheep were breaking free and dispersing all at once. Freaking out, he dropped his meal on the counter and rushed outside.

He didn’t have any hairs to speak of, but if he did, he’d imagine he’d be pulling at them at this point. Closing his eyes, he made a silent wish for someone to help him.

That’s when he heard a snarl, which made his eyes snap open in an instant. Slowing cursing himself, he rushed over to where the wolf was located, eyes determined. “Please don’t eat them! I swear… they…’ll… taste… awful?” 

Stopping dead in his tracks, he soon came to the conclusion that he didn’t want to hurt them, but  _ herd  _ them. Nudging the closer one’s back towards the gate’s entrance and calling out to the father one’s in a language only animals could speak.

Tanaka was in shocked awe, not knowing what to do. Suddenly they were all back and safe, and the beast was nudging  _ him _ to close the wooden gate. After closing it, he turned back to the wolf who was sitting down, looking as if he was waiting for an evaluation.

Not helping from smiling, he patted on the other, thanking him for the help. And in a blink, his hand was raised, as well as the beast, making him fall backward. Looking up, he realized it was his friend, the one who promised to come back sooner. Tanaka was happy he came back at all, quite frankly.

Bringing the other into an embrace, his voice sounded like the smile that was placed on his face. “I knew you’d come back.”

“Did you now?” He seemed like he meant it as a joke, but the tone made it seem more of a need for reassurance.

Suddenly, a third party came into place, one more feminine. “Who’s this, Ryu?” Her hands were on her hips, baskets on her arm from returning from the town’s grocery market.

“This,” he started, now wringing the other’s neck with his arm. “is Ennoshita! My friend and hopefully a new addition to the family biz!”

The boy was taken aback by all this piece of information. “Family business?”

“ _ No,  _ biz. It sounds cooler, plus yeah! The way you guys sorta… I don’t really know what you did, but it was  _ awesome!!” _

“So you’re not, like, weirded out?”

Tanaka shook his head, stopping and sliding his arm back to his own side. “Not at all. Why should I?”

Ennoshita smiled so bright that the sun had serious competition at hand. “No. I guess not.”

“You both realize I’m still here right?” No, they had not. 

Snickering to themselves, the lady of the house scoffed and walked towards the home. “Ryu, invite your friend over for dinner later! I want to meet the one truth you’ve told all year!”

  
_ The truth? _ he pondered. The fact of the matter was that Tanaka was correct about Ennoshita being real (although he didn’t know about him being part wolf, but that was a minor detail). Another part of the puzzle was that he was excited to know more about the other, hoping that maybe they could be more than friends, if possible. But for now, he had to worry about his sister trying to bring embarrassing stories to the dinner table and making Ennoshita feel at home at his house. But looking at the other’s joyful expression, he figured the latter would be less work, but definitely most rewarding.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading until the end !! 
> 
> i hope you like it and maybe noticed a sneak at a another character to come later on ;)) but next is kiyachi and you clue is: z's
> 
> if you wanna see what im up to then find me @akutagi on twt !!


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